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Related: About this forumBizarre Hexagon on Saturn May Be 180 Miles Tall
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | September 4, 2018 03:58pm ET
The weird hexagon swirling around Saturn's north pole is much taller than scientists had thought, a new study suggests.
Researchers have generally regarded the 20,000-mile-wide (32,000 kilometers) hexagon a jet stream composed of air moving at about 200 mph (320 km/h) as a lower-atmosphere phenomenon, restricted to the clouds of Saturn's troposphere.
But the bizarre structure actually extends about 180 miles (300 km) above those cloud tops, up into the stratosphere, at least during the northern spring and summer, a new study suggests. [Stunning Photos: Saturn's Weird Hexagon Vortex Storms]
The hexagon, which surrounds a smaller circular vortex situated at the north pole, has existed for at least 38 years; NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft spotted the sharp-cornered feature when they flew by Saturn in 1980 and 1981, respectively.
The hexagon, which surrounds a smaller circular vortex situated at the north pole, has existed for at least 38 years; NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft spotted the sharp-cornered feature when they flew by Saturn in 1980 and 1981, respectively.
More:
https://www.space.com/41713-bizarre-saturn-hexagon-180-miles-tall.html
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Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn May Be 180 Miles Tall (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
Sep 2018
OP
tblue37
(65,457 posts)1. K&R for visibility, and thanks! nt
dweller
(23,647 posts)2. at least... 38 yrs ...
b/c it didn't exist before humans observed it ... smells like hubris
✌🏼️
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,384 posts)3. science
Smells like science -- observation says it's at least 38 years old. It could be older, but we have nothing to confirm that, yet.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)4. That's good but where are they going to find an allen wrench big enough to open it up.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)5. Far out!
The universe is one amazing place. Another amazing place is Chaco Canyon, but for completely different reasons. I guess there are endless amazing places. OK, I'll shut up now.
hunter
(38,322 posts)6. Every interesting solar system has a star gate, marked by fabulous rings...
... and a hexagonal structure at one of the poles.
You can't miss them.
Traveling the galaxy has never been so easy.